ITV Racing boss Niall Sloane wants drones to boost racing coverage

His call-to-arms came in comments at the traditional year-end Gimcrack dinner at York Racecourse – the venue where ITV deployed state-of-the-art ‘eagle eye’ cameras for the Ebor Festival.

Sloane explained how ITV and its presenting team headed by Ed Chamberlin has “tried assiduously to make the sport more accessible” since it became the sport’s sole terrestrial broadcaster in 2016.

“We are in our fifth year of broadcasting and from our perspective the co-operation we have received at meetings has been, by and large terrific,” he said.

“Very few people turn an interview down, win or lose, all are gracious, and some are wonderfully loquacious. The peaks have been plentiful, our storytelling has witnessed some astounding triumphs, bravery and epic achievement.

“And so it should be, given the unique partnership of human and horse. But we can still do things better. The great thing about having a presenter like Ed Chamberlin is his constant drive to ask his production colleagues to do more and more to illustrate how good a day at a racecourse can be.”

However Sloane warned: “We need help to communicate through our words and images. For example, the use of drones. Is it really the case that a two-year old horse can be frightened by a drone?

“Has anyone got any evidence or did someone just state that seven or eight years ago because it sounded right? Can we have a chat about that and several other parts of the wider horizon? All we want to do is to make you and your sport look as good as possible.”

Sloane also said racing should not shun the expertise of broadcasters when considering how racedays can be improved for both spectators – and TV viewers.

And he had strong words in the wake of the weighing room scandal over the bullying of top female rider Bryony Frost, winner of last year’s King George VI Chase at Kempton aboard Frodon, and the mishandling of an inquiry process that culminated in jockey Robbie Dunne being handed an unprecedented 18-month ban.

“Over the last year we have witnessed some pretty bad optics around the sport, both from sole individuals’ distasteful actions, combatants’ angry fallouts and constituent members of racing negotiating for months and failing to agree on anything,” added Sloane.

“Many sports say they are in perpetual crisis.

“But that is usually because they become fixated on the here and now rather than trying to build for the future. If we communicate together with a common and transparent purpose for the good of racing, that surely must be a start.”

Meanwhile, Joe Tizzard is praying for a sound surface at Kempton on Boxing Day to give Lostintranslation the best possible chance of making it third time lucky in the Ladbrokes King George VI Chase.

The nine-year-old has been pulled up in each of the last two renewals of the festive feature - failing to fire when well fancied in 2020 and suffering a broken blood vessel 12 months ago.

Legendary trainer David Elsworth has announced his retirement. He saddled Rhyme N Reason to win the 1988 Grand National but will be forever associated with 1989 Cheltenham Gold Cup hero Desert Orchid.

In his latter years, the 82-year-old enjoyed notable successes on the Flat.